Roger L. Gregory | |
---|---|
Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit | |
Assumed office July 8, 2016 |
|
Preceded by | William Byrd Traxler Jr. |
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit | |
Assumed office December 27, 2000 |
|
Appointed by |
Bill Clinton (Recess) George W. Bush (Commission) |
Preceded by | Seat established by 104 Stat. 5089 |
Personal details | |
Born |
Roger L. Gregory July 17, 1953 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Education |
Virginia State University B.A. University of Michigan Law School J.D. |
Roger L. Gregory (born July 17, 1953) is the Chief United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Gregory was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but grew up in Petersburg, Virginia. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude from Virginia State University in 1975 and his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1978. He worked as an associate for two different law firms from 1978 until 1982. He co-founded the Richmond, Virginia law firm of Wilder & Gregory in 1982 with L. Douglas Wilder (the first African-American to be elected governor in the United States), and became the chair of its litigation section in 1985. Gregory is also a member of several fraternal organizations, including Omega Psi Phi fraternity, and Sigma Pi Phi fraternity.
On June 30, 2000, President Bill Clinton nominated Gregory to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that had been vacant for close to a decade since it had been created (the Senate had never acted on Clinton's previous nominee to that seat, J. Rich Leonard). After the Senate declined to take up Gregory's nomination, and the 2000 presidential election was already over, Clinton installed Gregory on the Fourth Circuit on December 27, 2000 via a recess appointment, which would have lasted only until end of the 2001 Congressional session. However, he was renominated by newly elected President George W. Bush on May 9, 2001.